2018/02/24

LOYALTY

Loyalty. To me, it's somehow similar to love. I don't mean that they are one and the same feeling, but both are very strong words that are often used by the wrong people in the wrong situations describing a wrong feeling. We use "love" to talk about liking somebody; we use "loyalty" to underline that we want to be there for somebody and see ourselves somehow tightly associated with them.

As you probably know if you've been following my blog or my other social media for some time now, I spent my winter holidays back at home in Odessa, Ukraine, where I was born and lived for the first 5 years of my life. It was supposed to be a very easy-going holiday to see my grandma and the rest of my family that I hadn't seen in over 4 years. And on the surface, that's basically what it was: a sort of family reunion. But it meant so much more to me and I feel like I've learnt quite a lot over those three short weeks, amongst others the true meaning of loyalty.

How often have you heard that phrase "I'm always there for you."? And how often has that person actually been there when you needed them? I don't mean to offend or blast anybody, but I feel like we use sentences like this one, which truly is of great meaning, way too often, even in situations where we neither mean it nor can keep the promise. I'm not going to lie, I'm in no way better than anybody else: I'm guilty of the same mistake that I probably have committed way too often, even without realising or wanting. But so are probably 99.9% of the people that read this post right now. And that's totally fine. It's human I guess.

But you know what I learnt? There are actually people that know the meaning behind those words before using them and when they pronounce them, you can be sure that they really mean it. And that, my friends, is truly impressive in my opinion.

On my way back home (which, let me tell you, was everything but a pleasant journey), I lost my wallet with all my documents and money in it at the airport. For those of you who don't know Ukraine, you probably think right now about the cameras and the fact that the employees have to bring it to the fund office, but for those of you who know this country, you'll get what I mean when I say that it's probably the 8th world wonder that I got everything back. The only downside was that I had to drive twice from Odessa (where I live) to Kiev (where I lost it). We're talking here about a 10-hour-drive each time, not even to talk about the pitiful weather conditions (thank you, snowstorms for making my life terrible) and the not so amazing streets around there. My mum had to make exactly 2 short phone calls and her friends offered themselves to drive and help me with everything, without even asking further questions or accepting any money for petrol etc. To make this clear: my mum has been living in Luxembourg with me for the past 16 years and rarely talks or sees her friends back at home, but friendship is a lifelong commitment and a promise that people there are taking very seriously. When they say that they will be there for you, they'll help you (or your child, in this case) even 16 years later, no questions asked.

Because that's what loyalty truly is about: you commit yourself and are there for the person no matter what. And you don't do it because you get something out of it but you do it simply because your friend needs help and you told him at some point in your life that he can count on you at any time.

Loyalty is the hard-earned result of working on a relationship with a person that you deeply care about.

Loyalty is when you put somebody else's worries, problems and life before yours when it's needed.

Loyalty is a lifelong commitment.

Loyalty is a very rare phenomenon that I'm pretty sure most people don't know the true meaning of. And I didn't either before I saw it with my own eyes. And that, I consider myself very lucky for. And I hope everybody will experience something like it and have it in their life at one point or another. Because it is the greatest gift you can make somebody. It's the most difficult promise to keep, especially in such a quick-running world where everybody has to look for themselves and their interests first if they want to succeed or at least, survive.